Ousted Tribune exec hopes NewsFix helps boost KIAH

Published 6:30 am, Monday, November 29, 2010

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Lee Abrams, former Tribune Co. chief innovation officer

Lee Abrams, former Tribune Co. chief innovation officer

Photo: COURTESY PHOTO

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Former Tribune executive Lee Abrams said Channel 39 reporter Steve Simon, above, was one of the employees who understood his concept for NewsFix, an anchorless newscast the station hopes draws new viewers.

Former Tribune executive Lee Abrams said Channel 39 reporter Steve Simon, above, was one of the employees who understood his concept for NewsFix, an anchorless newscast the station hopes draws new viewers.

Photo: COURTESY PHOTO

Ousted Tribune exec hopes NewsFix helps boost KIAH

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Lee Abrams is no longer with the Tribune Co., but his impact will continue in the form of NewsFix, Channel 39's anchorless newscast set to debut in January.

Abrams, Tribune's chief innovation officer, resigned in October shortly after he was suspended for sending a companywide e-mail that contained a parody newscast from the Onion with content that was deemed inappropriate. Tribune CEO Randy Michaels, who was described in the New York Times as fostering a "frat house" atmosphere at Tribune, resigned a week later.

Abrams, a longtime radio executive, answered questions about Tribune and NewsFix from the Houston Chronicle by e-mail. Excerpts follow.

Q: Was there anything about the Houston market that led you to believe this format would work here, or was it more a matter of going to the Tribune station with the lowest ratings and, thus, theoretically the least to lose?

A: Houston was a large enough market to have impact, and KIAH showed the willingness to try a new approach. While they made money with news, the long-term opportunity was in trying something completely different, and the KIAH management was on board with that.

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Q: Why do you think KIAH has been unable to compete in Houston with a traditional newscast?

A: There are too many stations with established news programming, heritage and resources to compete effectively by presenting essentially the same format. (The) time seems to be right to leave the traditional approach to those who do it best and try something very different.

Q: KIAH drew quite a bit of attention for an ad campaign featuring Mia Gradney, one of its anchors. What was your opinion of that campaign?

A: There's nothing wrong with good looks, but I have to wonder when that is the driver. I see stations that talk about being credible and hard hitting, then go out and hire a former Miss USA type with little aptitude for news reporting. … (Gradney) is great, but there is a generalization of putting beauty over substance that you see around the country. … To promote looks over content seems to symbolize everything that's wrong with TV news.

Q: If NewsFix doesn't work, does that signal the end of news at Channel 39?

A: I really can't answer that, but I would suspect they might look to get out of the news business as it's expensive and at some point, there might be better options.

Q: What was your impression of the current staff at KIAH? Did any of the current on-air people display the qualities that you envisioned as being important to a NewsFix contributor?

A: We looked for people who embraced the idea and displayed an aptitude to contribute. There were several people who clearly had those qualities. Steve Simon stood out as immediately "getting it" and from day one was a potent source of ideas. There were others, too. Unfortunately, there were also some who may have resented the idea of this sort of dramatic change, but that's to be expected.

Q: Did you have any impressions of Houston TV news in general? KTRK (Channel 13) has a strong tradition as the ratings leader, and KHOU (Channel 11) has won some significant awards for investigative projects.

A: Houston has some great TV news, and to compete directly with the established leaders by being a poor man's version of what those stations do well would beg for failure. That's the core reason for NewsFix, to try something completely different and find our own position. It's really all about competing through differentiation.

Q: Do you have any regrets about the manner in which your time with Tribune ended? Was it a mistake to send the Onion video?

A: Yes. We were making a lot of progress, especially on the TV side with the development of NewsFix and many other initiatives that had been in the works for a long time.

On the Onion video, apparently it was a mistake, and I apologized for it though I suspect deeper political reasons for the reaction…. The Onion video was a parody, among several other videos in the memo, to demonstrate a point about the silliness of certain TV shows. … I believe it was deliberately taken out of context and deliberately overpublicized to further a control agenda at the company.

That exact same video was shown to the Chicago Tribune sales team and received an ovation.

Q: Did the manner of your departure jeopardize some of the changes you hoped would take place?

A: Without question. Many of the changes would take years, and I thought we were making significant progress in many areas. Tribune is a multimedia company, and to prevail in the age of Apple and Google, some of the MO and culture needed to be modernized.

Q: What are your thoughts on Randy Michaels' departure and Sam Zell's decision to step down as chairman once the company comes out of bankruptcy?

A: It was unfortunate that Randy departed. He is the kind of person that could actually turn around a company like Tribune. He is not a traditional CEO, and they needed that. On Sam Zell, I am not surprised as it's a big mystery what the company will look like post-Chapter 11.

Q: Was the Michaels management team undone by Tribune insiders, or was management its own worst enemy? Could you or should you have presented your ideas in a different manner?

A: A little of each. I found the ideas well-accepted or at least listened to by the vast majority of employees.

Clearly, some resented them, but others embraced them. KIAH is an example of management that wants to progress.

The bedside manner with the newspaper newsrooms might have been better, but we never forced anything.